by Sarah Lynch, Special to USA TODAY

by Sarah Lynch, Special to USA TODAY

CAIRO - Egypt's new president has backed away from an announcement that pro-reform leader Mohamed Elbaradei would be the interim prime minister.

A spokesman for interim President Adly Mansour, Ahmed el-Musilamani, told reporters on Saturday that consultations were continuing, denying that the appointment of the Nobel Peace laureate was ever certain.

However, reporters gathered at the presidential palace were ushered into a room where they were told by an official to wait for the president who would arrive shortly to announce ElBaradei's appointment.

A senior opposition official, Munir Fakhry Abdelnur, tells the Associated Press that the reversal occurred because the ultraconservative Salafi el-Nour party objected to ElBardei's appointment and mediation was underway.

The announcement takes place amid a widening crisis in Egypt as clashes killed at least 36 people across the country.

Meanwhile, Egypt increased security forces near supporters of deposed leader Mohammed Morsi who were gathered on the streets as worries grew about prospects for renewed violence after clashes left at least 36 people dead.

Morsi's supporters were massed in a sit-in demonstration outside a mosque in a section of the city where the Muslim Brotherhood has maintained a stronghold.

There were no reports of major clashes following a night of street battles, but in the northern Sinai peninsula, gunmen shot and killed a Christian priest while he shopped for food in an outdoor market.

It was not immediately clear if the shooting was linked to the political crisis, but there has been a backlash against Christians just before and after Morsi's ouster. Attacks have occurred on members of the minority by Islamists in at least three provinces south of Egypt. Christians account for about 10% of Egypt's 90 million people. Morsi's Brotherhood and hard-line allies claim Christians played a big part in inciting protests against the ousted leader.

In the capital, a fraction of the city's normally heavy traffic was on the streets Saturday amid worries that violence could flare again after claiming at least 75 lives in the past week.

The nation's interim president, Adly Mansour, met Saturday with army chief and Defense Minister Gen. Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, as well as Interior Minister Mohammed Ibrahim, who is in charge of the police, at the Ittihadiya Presidential Palace, to consider authorities' next moves.

It was the first time Mansour, who formally dissolved the parliament Friday, has worked out of the president's main offices since he was sworn in Thursday as the country's interim leader. Mansour, who was appointed by the military, took over a day after the military overthrew Morsi, who was the country's first democratically elected president.

At least 12 deaths were reported in clashes in Alexandria, the country's second-largest city, after Islamists opened fire on a rally of Morsi opponents, a medical services official told the Associated Press. Police sided with Morsi protesters in the Mediterranean coastal city.

More than 400 were reported injured nationwide, the Health Ministry said.

In Cairo, the bloodiest confrontation came as troops opened fire on protesters outside the Republican Guards military barracks where the ousted president is being held. A Health Ministry official told the Associated Press that four people were killed.

Hundreds of demonstrators had marched to the site following afternoon prayers, chanting, "After sunset, President Morsi will be back in the palace."

At nightfall, a crowd of Islamists surged across the October 6 Bridge over the Nile River and clashed with Morsi opponents near Tahrir Square and outside the state TV building. One witness reported gunfire and stone-throwing, and one person was killed, said Khaled el-Khatib, of the Health Ministry.

Late Friday, military armored vehicles arrived on the bridge and outside the TV station to stop the fighting, and Morsi supporters retreated.